


Rewrite the Stars

by smaragdbird



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Accepting Injury To Save Another, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bedside Vigils, Bodhi is physically hurt, Family Reunions, Father-Daughter Relationship, Holding Hands, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Physically Injured Character Comforting Emotionally Distressed Character, both are emotionally hurt, implied Cassian/K-2SO but it's blink and you miss it, waiting to see if someone they love recovers from serious injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-08 04:24:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18887119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smaragdbird/pseuds/smaragdbird
Summary: Bodhi is with Jyn on the landing platform when the Alliance starts dropping bombs.He pushes Galen out of the way, just in time, but gets hit himself.





	Rewrite the Stars

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rosecake](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosecake/gifts).



As Bodhi made his way back to the shuttle, he could just about make out a figure walking away from it. 

“Wait!” He yelled, not sure if they had heard him over the rain. 

But the figure did stop and when he came closer, he realised that it was Jyn. “Where are you going?”

“My father is there”, she replied, pointing towards the brightly lit landing platform “I’m going to find him.” 

“I’ll come with you”, Bodhi made the decision in a split second. After all he had promised Galen that he would come back for him if possible.

Bodhi went first. He knew the terrain around the station, he and other non-essential staff had been drafted for clean-up work after the numerous storms on Eadu more than once. Climbing down was difficult, their feet sliding on mud and their hands slipping from wet rocks, but eventually he and Jyn made it to the bottom of the crevice.

The storm hadn’t been raging for long or this area would have already filled up with water. The ladder leading up to the platform had been designed with droids in mind, not organics, but thankfully the distance between the rungs was small enough to make it possible to climb.

“Do you have a plan?” Bodhi asked. He knew where the lab was and where Galen should be but finding him and getting out where two different things.

Jyn shrugged. “We’ll think of something.”

For a moment Bodhi wished that he could just turn around and go home but Jedha had been destroyed and Galen was the only home he had left. He put his foot on the first rung and grabbed another one higher up with both hands. “Don’t look down.”

Climbing up was even worse than climbing down, the metal much more slippery than the rocks and the mud had been. Bodhi tried not to think about the fact that one misstep would mean a free fall all the way to the bottom of the crevice.

Bit by bit they made their way up. The last days of captivity and torture had left their mark and his body was protesting against this new hardship but Bodhi ignored it. Instinctively he pressed himself against the ladder when a shuttle flew overhead. A ST-149 going by the sounds the engine made, the very best military transporter the Empire had to offer. He had been drafted to fly one of them once, from the surface of Scarif to the planetary shield station. It meant that someone very important had just arrived on Eadu.

They were just beneath the landing platform when Bodhi could hear shots being fired. He flinched and made the mistake of looking down at Jyn. Beneath her an endless chasm seemed to gape, the ground no longer visible.

“Bodhi!” She hissed, barely audible over the lashing rain. Her blue eyes were glaring at him. “Go.”

He took a deep breath and climbed the last few meters to the landing platform, pulling himself onto it behind a stack of crates. Storm – and Death troopers were guarding the area where the shuttle had landed. 

Behind him, Jyn pulled herself up as well. “I know him”, she whispered, nodding towards a man dressed in white, a wall of Death troopers on each side.

“That’s Director Krennic”, Bodhi whispered back. “He’s supervising this station.”

“He killed my mother”, Jyn replied.

Bodhi knew that already. Galen hadn’t often talked about his past but here and there things had slipped through. 

“That’s my father!” Jyn pointed towards Krennic, who was crouching down, blaster in hand and now Bodhi could see that Galen was kneeling on the ground in front of him. Beyond him he could just make out bodies lying on the ground. 

Bodhi grabbed her arm before Jyn could move out of cover. “These are Death Troopers. We’ll never make it.”

“but he’s going to kill him!” Jyn expression spoke of pure desperation but Bodhi didn’t let go of her arm.

“I know. But there’s nothing we can do.”

The Holy City had been filled with pilgrims and believers of the Force. Bodhi had grown up with it as a cornerstone of his culture even if he had never been particularly religious himself. Now though, when he heard the engines of multiple X-Wings breach the atmosphere, just in the moment they needed, he felt as if all his prayers had been answered.

Krennic reacted immediately, withdrawing into the circle of his Death Troopers and moving back towards the shuttle while Galen got back to his feet.

And then the bombs started falling.

Bodhi didn’t hesitate. He sprinted across the deck and pushed Galen out of the way, just in time to feel the explosion toss him through the air like sand in the wind. He hit the ground hard, pain shot through his body like fire.

He tried to move but couldn’t. None of his limbs obeyed him and there was a persistent ringing noise in his head that drowned out all the other noise. His eyes weren’t working properly either, everything was hazy when he opened them. 

Someone was kneeling over him but he couldn’t tell who it was. Galen maybe? He hoped it was Galen, hoped he hadn’t been as hurt by the explosion as Bodhi had been.

“I’ll come back for you”, Bodhi had promised him that before he had left.

And now he was here, with the Rebellion even if it was too late. The Death Star was operational. He and Galen had been too late, had waited too long.

Someone touched him and it hurt. It hurt so much that Bodhi was sure he was screaming in pain even if he couldn’t hear it over the noise in his ears. Or maybe he wasn’t screaming. He didn’t feel as if he could draw enough air into his lungs to scream.

/

Galen had been here before, kneeling over the body of a person he loved. He hadn’t been able to save Lyra. He hadn’t been able to save Jyn. And now Bodhi. He had escaped the doom of Jedha just to die here on Eadu, saving Galen.

His fingers curled into Bodhi’s wet overall, the same bloody thing Galen had seen him wear when he had left three days ago. He felt the sobs overtake him and rested his forehead on Bodhi’s chest. Let Krennic return and shoot him in the head, let the Rebellion finish their job – what did it matter?

“Dad?” Jyn’s hand – was it really Jyn? – grabbed his shoulder, her voice tentative. “We have to go.”  
Galen didn’t move. 

“We have to go, dad.”

Quick steps amongst the sirens and sharp whistles of TIE fighters cutting the through the atmosphere and another voice asked, “What happened?”

“He saved my dad”, Jyn replied.

The rustle of wet clothing and then a man said, “He’s alive. But we have to go.”

Someone grabbed Galen’s shoulder and forced him away from Bodhi. A man with dark eyes and rain drenched hair looked him in the eyes. “He is alive but he needs medical attention.”

A part of Galen wanted to tell the man to go fuck himself and leave and Bodhi here to die. He was so tired. But he had promised Bodhi a better life than with the Empire and if nothing else he needed to keep that promise.

Galen gathered Bodhi in his arms and forced himself up to his feet. He was heavier than Galen remembered or maybe it was the throbbing pain in his side that made it more difficult for him to lift him up. He did it regardless.

For the first time since the attack Galen looked around. The landing platform was a mess, partially destroyed with bodies and debris strewn across of what was left. Something hard and cold clamped around his heart when he saw his colleagues, all of them dead because of him. And if the Death Star was truly operational as Krennic had claimed then their deaths had been in vain. Everything had been in vain.

Every step sent sharp spikes of pain through his side but Galen refused to lessen his grip on Bodhi. He was the only person he could maybe still safe, by the stars, he hoped that he could. Jyn, and could she really be Jyn, his Jyn, hovered nearby as the man led them away from the landing platform. In the chaos no one seemed to notice them slip away.

They reached a shuttle where two other men and a droid where waiting for them. Someone tried to take Bodhi from him but Galen only held on tighter. He staggered across the shuttle floor and carefully laid Bodhi down on the side bench before falling to his knees.

One of the men demanded to know what had happened and someone else answered but Galen didn’t pay attention to them. His hand found Bodhi’s throat and he pressed his fingertips against the soft skin there to feel his pulse. It was there, but too thin and too quick.

With his other hand, Galen pulled the goggles from Bodhi’s head in the hope it would be more comfortable for him this way. Bodhi had always pushed them up in his hair and then forgotten about them. 

“Dad”, Jyn said after she had put a blanket over Bodhi. It was a drab, grey thing and Bodhi had always complained that they were too thin to keep you warm in space.

Galen looked at her properly for the first time – and didn’t recognise her. He had last seen Jyn as a little girl, eight years old and with pigtails and a stuffed stormtrooper in her hand. “Stardust?” 

She smiled, bright and brilliantly like summer sky, and perhaps he was deluding himself but there was something of Lyra in her expression. “It’s me, dad.” She threw off the heavy rain poncho – Bodhi had always complained about those, too, saying they did nothing to keep the rain away from you and everything to make moving harder – and pulled out Lyra’s necklace from beneath her clothes.

Galen had given Lyra that necklace as gift before they had started a relationship. It had been the first Khyber crystal they had discovered on Dantooine together. Had Lyra given the necklace to Jyn? He couldn’t remember.

They fell into each other’s arms and Galen knew he would have cried if he hadn’t been so exhausted. Fifteen years, the woman he had loved dead, his best friend turned into a monster, the weapon he had tried to sabotage operational and millions dead; the man he loved perhaps mortally wounded, but his daughter was in his arms again, so maybe Lyra’s believe in a benevolent Force hadn’t been misguided after all.

“Stardust”, Galen whispered, holding onto her as hard as he could. Fifteen years was such a long time, he had missed so much, moments he could never make up for. And all of it for nothing.

“Dad”, Jyn said again. She was crying and it broke his heart. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“I missed you, too. Every day.” He pressed a kiss to her hair like he had done when she had been a little girl. He never wanted to let go of her again, but of course that wasn’t possible.

The ship jumped into hyperspace and Galen felt a strange lurch in his stomach. For the last fifteen years he had been on Eadu and he had doubted that he would ever leave it alive. 

“You’re hurt!” Jyn interrupted his thoughts as she pulled back slightly, blood on her hands.

Galen touched his side and felt pain shoot through his body. It seemed he hadn’t escaped the explosion unscathed despite Bodhi’s best efforts. 

Jumping into hyperspace would force most organic beings from their state of sleep or unconsciousness but Bodhi didn’t stir, didn’t open his eyes, nothing. Galen reached out and checked his pulse again. It was there but barely.

He leaned back heavily against the bench Bodhi was lying on and took one of Bodhi’s hands between his, holding onto him like a lifeline. The two other man who had joined them on the way to the shuttle were nearby and while one was glaring at him the other one didn’t seem to pay him any attention.

Jyn came down together with the man who had been with them on the landing platform. “Galen Erso? I’m Captain Cassian Andor, Alliance Intelligence.”

“How long until we reach your base?” Galen asked. If Andor had noticed his and Bodhi’s joined hands, his face didn’t show it.

Andor’s eyes flickered over to Bodhi. “Two hours.”

Galen wanted to cry but he was too exhausted to muster much of any kind of emotion. “What can I do for you, Captain Andor? I assume you got my message?”

Andor shook his head. “Your message was destroyed on Jedha. By the weapon you helped to build.”

“So it’s true, Krennic used it.” Galen was going to be sick. He had clung to the hope that Krennic had merely bragged about it but that he hadn’t actually used it. And against Jedha of all places, Bodhi’s home. 

“Is it also true that it can be destroyed?” Andor asked.

“Yes.” Galen’s hand tightened around Bodhi’s. “Just please, Bodhi didn’t know anything. He’s a good man.”

“The Rebellion takes care of its people”, Andor said, which didn’t answer Galen’s request but it was the best he could hope for in his situation.

/

Cassian knew Draven wouldn’t be happy that he brought Galen Erso back alive. Mon Mothma would be pleased but she also believed that the Senate still had the power to stand up to Emperor. He had seen the Death Star and knew that most governments would cover and plead for mercy under the threat of such destruction.

They would have to destroy it if they wanted to bring down the Empire. Cassian shuddered when he thought about what had happened on Jedha. He had seen much evil and depravity in his life, had even committed some of it but Jedha…

A part of him wanted to demand answers from Erso now but he recognised that neither of them were in the emotional state to be questioned. Cassian knew he was too compromised by what he had seen on Jedha. And Erso was too distracted by his concern for Bodhi’s wellbeing.

He couldn’t get a grasp on Erso. On the one hand the man had willingly participated in the construction of the Death Star but he also claimed to have sabotaged it from within and Cassian had witnessed him trying to defend the lives of his colleagues. And now his concern for Bodhi. Cassian had assumed Erso had only seen Bodhi as a tool to get his message across to the Rebellion but seeing them together it looked as if Erso was genuinely invested in Bodhi’s wellbeing. He hadn’t expected that.

After he had patched up Erso to make sure the man didn’t bleed to death on their way to Yavin IV, Cassian climbed back up into the cockpit. Kay had pushed back the pilot’s chair as much as possible but it was still cramped for him. Imperial facilities were built with only humans in mind.

“Did you tell them we’re coming?” Cassian asked, letting himself fall into the co-pilot’s chair, staring out into hyperspace. He had always felt the safest here where no one could track you and no one could shoot you down.

“I did”, Kay replied. 

“Did you tell them about Erso?”

“As much as I could without giving the Empire a clue.”

Which meant that there was a 50/50 chance Draven had no clue what was happening but Cassian couldn’t find it in him to care. Draven would already punish him for disobeying his orders, he might as well do it for unclear communication as well.

For once seeing the blue and white light of hyperspace failed to calm him down. Instead it reminded him of the lightening that had torn Jedha’s planetary crust apart as they had fled. 

“Cassian.” Kay’s hand wrapped around his arm and pulled him from his thoughts. “Your heart and breath rates are rising. You might be having a panic attack.”

“I’m okay”, Cassian replied in a shaky voice. At least it was only him and Kay up here. He didn’t trust the others enough to be vulnerable around them.

“I am a hundred percent confident you are lying to me right now.”

“I don’t have the time not to be okay,” Cassian admitted.

“I’m not organic and even I know this is not how this works.” His hand tightened its grip around Cassian’s arm. “What do you need?”

“Later”, Cassian promised, briefly covering Kay’s hand with his own. “I’ll tell you later.”

He forced himself to get up and climb down again to check on Jyn, Bodhi and the others. No one but Erso and Bodhi seemed to be hurt, which was something at least. And Bodhi, while still unconscious, at least didn’t seem to get any worse.

Draven and Mon Mothma were waiting for them when they landed, together with a squadron of pathfinders and medical staff, meaning Kay’s message had been understood. Cassian nodded at both of them when he led Erso outside.

“Captain Andor”, Mon Mothma greeted him while Draven just glared at him. “Galen Erso, I presume? We heard about your weapon.”

“And we heard it’s operational,” Draven added.

“So did I”, Galen replied. “And I can tell you how to destroy it.”

The medical staff rushed past them, Bodhi on a stretcher, and Galen’s eyes followed them. 

“Is he the pilot you sent to bring us the message?” Mon Mothma asked gently.

“Yes, yes, he is”, Galen said distractedly, still watching the door where the medical team had disappeared to. “He’s a good man. Please, do whatever you can for him.”

“We take care of our people”, Mon Mothma promised him. “But we should continue this conversation inside.”

“Captain Andor”, Draven’s hard stare met his eyes. “Bring your new ‘associates’ and follow me. Tell your droid to hand over the shuttle to make sure you weren’t traced here.”

“Yes, sir.”

/

Bodhi was floating. The shuttle’s gravity stabilisers must have failed again. He had been here before, he remembered that. Pirates had attacked him just outside a refuelling station and a lucky shot had incapacitated most of his systems. It had been cold then but it wasn’t cold now.

Where had his last flight been to? He couldn’t remember. Jedha? But Pirates didn’t attack Jedha anymore, the Empire had stationed star destroyers to prevent that. Eadu was not a lucrative target and Scarif was too heavily guarded. Where had he flown to and why couldn’t he remember?

An oxygen mask covered his mouth and nose, so he had a few more hours, maybe. Had he hit his head when the stabilisers failed? He must have but he felt no pain anywhere. Just an odd, warm heaviness that enveloped him completely.

Maybe he was falling into a star, the gravity pulling him in and the solar radiation keeping him warm in his last moments. The thought of his imminent death terrified him and he tried to open his eyes but something heavy rested on his lids. Had he fallen asleep with his goggles on again?

Bodhi tried to remove them but he couldn’t move his arms properly. It was as if he was underwater. Had he crashed into Scarif’s ocean? But the liquid surrounding him didn’t feel like water. It was more solid but still flowed through his fingers when he moved them.

Panicking, Bodhi began to trash because if he was stuck underwater in his shuttle he needed to get out of here. He managed to open his eyes. His world was blurry, bright and blue. Too bright to be inside a shuttle.

His foot connected with something actually solid and it felt like transparisteel. Was he in a tank? But why would he – 

Suddenly it all came back to him. Jedha. Saw Gerrera. The Death Star. The horizon folding into itself in a cloud of dust and lightening. His heart raced in his chest and his breathing became faster and faster and yet it felt as if there was no air in his lungs.

Bodhi just knew he had to get out of here, wherever here was. He needed to bring the message. He needed – gasping for air he smelled something sweet and a heartbeat later, darkness took him.

When he woke up again it felt as if someone had poured lead into his bones. He was in a bed; he could feel the sheets beneath him and the blankets above but his body felt so heavy that it seemed impossible to move.

Slowly, Bodhi opened his eyes and blinked a few times against the brightness. His head hurt. He looked around as much as he could without having to move his head. The room had actual walls made from stone rather than prefabricate and a low stone ceiling. They had to be planet-side, and it wasn’t ether Eadu or Scarif where the only settlements were by the Empire. And grey stone like this wasn’t used to build anything on Jedha…

Bodhi choked as his memories of Jedha returned but he tried to push them aside to remember what had happened after. He had escaped…with…other people…other prisoners…a ship, small and not one from the imperial fleet…a man with a Festian accent – Cassian. Two other men, speaking in the dialect of the southern hemisphere on Jedha and…Jyn…Jyn Erso…Galen’s daughter. 

He needed to get a message to Galen that he had found her. And with the Rebellion like Galen had always hoped. He would return to Eadu and get Galen out of there like he had promised when he had left.

Thinking of Galen gave Bodhi enough strength to lift his head and to his surprise he found Galen by his side, fast asleep in a chair. His hand was resting next to Bodhi’s on the sheets and Bodhi summoned his last bit of strength to grab it before he let his head fall back onto the pillow, turned towards Galen this time. 

The gentle touch of their fingers was enough to stir Galen from his sleep. Bodhi had seen him wake up so many times but it never failed to make him smile. Galen always brushed the hair from his face before even opened his eyes as if he still wasn’t used to it. He had told Bodhi once that his hair used to be long and pulled out of the way and Bodhi wished he could have seen that.

Then Galen blinked a few times and looked around without seeing anything. Bodhi had learned to be instantly awake for his job but Galen never had to.

“Bodhi”, Galen said as if he couldn’t believe his own eyes. “You’re awake.” He took their joined hands and pressed a kiss to the back of Bodhi’s one. 

“You’re here”, Bodhi tried to say but his voice came out as nothing more than a whisper.

“Of course I’m here. You almost died, Bodhi. Where else would I be?” Galen leaned in closer and brushed Bodhi’s hair from his face so gently as if he was afraid to hurt him.

“Galen…Jedha…it’s destroyed.”

“I know”, Galen replied as he kept stroking Bodhi’s hair. “I know and I am sorry. I am so sorry Bodhi.”

The sadness in his voice broke Bodhi’s heart. Jedha had been everyone’s fault who had supported the Empire, had supported the Death Star’s construction including him.

“Jyn, I found Jyn on Jedha. She’s alive, Galen”, Bodhi told him in the hopes it would cheer him up a little. He did not have the strength to even think about Jedha right now. “She’s with the Rebellion.”

“I know.” When Bodhi gave him a confused look, Galen added, “You don’t remember, do you? That you came to Eadu? You and Jyn and the Rebellion.”

Bodhi tried to smile. “I told you I’d come back for you.”

“You did more than come back”, Galen replied. “You saved my life.”

“I’m glad.”

“Don’t ever do that again. I…I thought you were going to die,” Galen’s voice broke on the last word and he briefly closed his eyes. “You were supposed to be safe. No matter what happened, you were supposed to live.”

“I’m here, Galen”, Bodhi whispered, somehow finding the strength to close the distance between them and rest his forehead against Galen’s. He could feel tears fall from Galen’s eyes onto his skin. “I’m here.”


End file.
